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Girl A^Mp His To\vr? Ay Mane Var\Vorst~ \\ ] CHAPTtR I. Dan ?lair. Toe fact that much ha said, because of his unconscionable slang, was In comprehensible did not take from the charm of his conversation aa far aa the * lue bees of Breakwater wne con? cerned. The brightness of hla expres? sion, his quick, clear look upon them, his beautiful young smile, hla not too frequent laugh, his "new geynsta," aa the ducheee called hla spirits, lie su? pernal youth, hla difference, credited him with what nine tenths of the hu? man race lack?charm. Hla tone was not too crudely west? ern. neither did he suggest the ultra eaat, with nhtch tbey were familiar. American woman went down well enough with them, but American men were onpopuar. and when the visitor arrived. Lady Oelorey did not even an Bounce him to the party gathered for the first shoot" The others were In the armory when the ninth gun. a young chap, alx feet of him. blond aa the wheat, cleanly set ap and very *ood to look at, came In with Lily. Ihicheea of Breakwater, Lady Oalorey. hla hostess, greeted them. "(>b. here you are. are you? Lord Mersey. Sir John Palrthrope." She Bumbled the rest of the names of ber corns an ions as though aha did not want them understood, then waved to? ward the young chap, calling him Mr. Dan Blair, and be. aa aha healtated. added: "Brom Blair town, Montana." "And give him a gun. will yon, Gor? don** I July Oalorey apoke to her husband. "I discovered Mr. Blair, Edle." the duchess announced, "and he didn't even know there waa a shoot on for today. Fancy!" " 1 gases." Dan Blair sstd pleasant? ly. "I'll take a gun out of this bunch," aad he chose one at random from > *v seal indies ted to him by the game? keeper I ge<' my beat luck wbeu 1 go It blind Right! Thanks That's so. Lady Oalorey. I didn't know there was to be sny ?hootlng until the duch? eee let It out." To himself hs thought with good-na? tured amusement. "Afraid I'll spoil their game record, maybe!" and went eat aloLg with them, following the In ealar noblemen like a ray of aun. ensiling on the pretty woman who had discovered him In the grounds where he hsd been pcklng about by himself. "Where. In heaven's name, did you 'corral'?word of bis own?the dear boy. Edith I How did he get to Oa easts Park, or In fact anywhere. Just as he la. fresh from Eden?" "Thought I'd let him take you by surprise, dserent. Where'd you find DenT "Down by the garden bouse, feeding the) rabbits, on hla kneee like a lUtle hoy. bis bands full of lettuces. I'd tost come a cropper mysetf on '.he snare. She fell. I'm sorry to usy, Edle, aad hacked her knees quite a lot. One ef those disguised ditches, you know. I was coming along leading her when f ran on your friend." The young duchess waa slender aa a willow, very b.-unette. with s beauti? ful, discontented face. "I'm going to show Dan Blair o?T." Lady Oalorey responded, "going to give the debutantes a chance." Placidly nodding, the duchess lit a cigarette and began quoting from Dan Blair* s conversation: "1 fancy he wont let them 'worry him.' he's too ?busy'' " "Tou mean that you're going to keep him occupied?" The ducbess didn't notice this. "Is he such a catch"*" Neither of the women had walked not with the suns The duchess had a had foot, and I^sdy Oalorey never wont anywhere she could help with nor husband She now drew her chair up to the table In the morning room, to which they had both none after the departure of the guns, snd regarded with satisfaction a quantity of sta? tionery snd the red leather desk ap? pointments "8lt down and smoke If you like. Uly; I'm going to fill out some lists." "No. thanks. I'm going up to my rooms snd get Perkins to 'msssey' this beastly foot of mine I must have fall en on It. But 'ell me first. Is Mr. Blair a catch *" I<ady Oalorey had on* ned an n?l dress book and looked up from It to r*ply thing like ten milli ? gonnds" "Heavens* Disgusting' "The richest yourg man "WSSt of somit river or other' At sny rate hi told me last night that It was 'clean money * I dare say fhe river U re - slbte for its rleanllness. but th.it IssU seemed to glvsj him satisfaction " The duchess was leaning on the fa ble at l*adv Oalorey's side "Dsn's fsther took Gordon all over the west that time he went to the states for s hlg hunt In the l{ sjfctk He got to know Mr. Blair awfully well Oat. Roosevelt ssys ell hs wants Is ind liked him The old gentleman bought a little property about that time that turned out to be a gold mine." With persistency the duchess said: "How d'you know It Is 'clean money,' Edith? Not that it makes a rap of dif? ference," she laughed prettily, "but bow do you know that he Is rich to this horrible extent?" Lady Oalorey put down her address book Impatiently ; "Does he look like an impostor?" The other returned: "Even the archangel fell, my dear Edith!" "Well," returned her friend, "this one la too young to have fallen far," and she abut up her list in despera? tion. The duchess sat down on the edge of the lounge and raised her expres? sive eyes to Lady Oalorey, who onoe more looked at her sarcastically, and went on: "Gordon liked the old gentleman; he was extraordinarily generous?quite a type. They called the town after him ?Blalrtown; that Is where the son 'halls from.' He was a little lad when Gordon was out and Mr. Blair prom? ised that Dan should come over here and see us one day, and this," she Feeding the Rabbits, on His Knees L ike s Little Boy. tapped the table with her pen, "seems to be the day, for he came down upon us ir this breezty way without even bending a wire, 'just turned up' last night. Gordon's mad about him. His father has been dead a year, and he Is Just twenty-two." "Good heavens!" murmured the duchess. Lady Oalorey opened her address book again. "Oord Vs got him terribly on his mind, my dear; he has forbidden any gambling or any bridge as long as the boy ia with us. . . ." Her companion rose and thrust her hands into the pocket of her tweed coat. She laughed softly, then went over to the long window where with? out, across the pane, the early winter mists were flying, chased by a furtive sun. "Gordon said that the boy's father treated him like a king, and that while the boy is here be is going to look out for him." Over her shoulder the other threw out coldly: "You speak as though he were In a den of thieves. I didn't know Gor? don's honor war so fine. As for me, I don't gamble, you know." Lady Oalorey had decided that Lily'B Insistent remaining gave her a chance to fill her fountain pen. She was, therefore, carefully squirting in the Ink. and she flushed at her friend's last words. Lady Galorey herself was the best bridge player In London, and cards were her passion. She did not remind the lady 1n the window That ni< re were other gaiifs besides bridge. I ut kept both her tongue and her temper. After a little slleOOS in which tin women followed each her own thoughts, the duchess DBurmured\ "I'll toddle upstulrs. Edle- let yon write Where did you say we were going to gtoei the |Ug| for food?" "At the gate by the W hite Pastures. There'll lo a cart jind a motor going, whickers! yog ?ko, around two." "Right," her grace nodded. "I'll bo on time, dearest " \i I Ltd] Ga'orey with a relieved sigh heard the door close behind the duchess Wiping her fountain pt n delicately with a bit Of chamois, thi murmured: "\v? u, Dan Blair is out of Kden. poor dear. If he inef her by IhS gate " A fortune of a round ten million pounds WgS a small part of what this ygSJfjg man bad conn |gfO by direc t In? heritance from the Copper King of Blalrtown, M intana, For once the money flgun had not been exagger ated. but Lady Gab rey did not know about the rest of Pan's Inheritance. The voung man whistltng in his rooms in tbo bachelor quarters of Os a square deal. Uy George, we thought lene Park House, dressed for dinner without the aid of a valet. When .iOrd (lalorey had asked him "where ila man servant was," Dan had grinned. "Gosh, I wouldn't have one )f those Johnnies hanging around me ?never did have! I can put on my Uockings all right! There was a chap m the boat I came over in who let his :nan put on his Btockings. Can you sagt that?" BUlr had laughed again. T think if anybody tickled my feet :hai way I would be likely to kick him n the eye." Dressing in his room he whistled un? der his breath a song from a newly popular comic opera, and he intoned with a clear young voice a lino of the words: "Should-you-go-to-Mandalay." Out through his high window, If he had looked, he would have seen the misty sweep of the park under the Taint moonrtse and fine shadows that the leaves made in the veiled light, but he did not look out. He was dressing for dinner without a valet and giving a great deal of care to his toilet; for the first time he was to dine In the house of a nobleman and In the presence of a duchess; not that It meant a great deal to him?he thought it was "funny." In Dan Blair's twenty-two years of utterly happy days his one grief had been the death of his father. As soon as the old man had died Dan had gone off into the Rockies with his guides and not "shown up" for months. When he came back to Hlairtown, as he ex? pressed it, "he packed his grip and beat it while his shoes were good," for the one place he could remember his father had suggested for him to go. Blalrtown was very much Impressed when the heir came in from the Rock? ies with "a big kill," and the orphan's ease did hot seem especially dis? turbed. But no one In the town knew how the boy's heart ached for the old man. When Dan was six years old his father had literally picked him up by the nape of the neck and thrown him Into the water like a pup and watched him swim. At eight he sent the boy off with a gun to rough camp. Then he took Dan down In the mines with the men. His education had been won in Blalrtown, at a school called public, but which in reality was noth? ing more than a pioneer district school. On Sundays Dan dressed up and went with his father to church twice a day and In the week days his father took him to the prayer meetings, and at sixteen Dau went to college in Cali? fornia. He had Just completed his course when old Blair died. Then he Inherited fifty million dolls* i On the day of the shoot at Osdene, Dan dropped sixty birds. Ke tried vory hard not to be too p!s>?sed. "Gosh." he thought to himself, "those birds fell as though they were trained all right, and the other sports were mad, I could see It." He then fell to whistling softly the air he had heard Lady Galore; play the night before from th new success at the Gaiety, and finished It as his toilet completed Itself. He took up a gardenia from his dressing table and fastened It in his coat, stopping on the stairs on the way down to look over into the hall where the men In their black clothes and the women In their shining dresses waited before going into the dining-room. The lights fell on white arms and necks, on jewels and rn tine proud headB. Dan Hlalr had been In San Francisco and In New York, on short Journeys, however, which his father, the year l>efore, had directed iilm to take, but he had never Been a "show" like this. He came slowly down the broad , stairway of the Osdene Park House, the last guest. In the corner, where, behind her, a piece of fourteenth cen? tury tapestry cut a green and pink square against the rich black oak pan fling, the Duchess of Breakwater sat ' waiting. She wore a dress of golden J tulle which was simply a sheath to her slender body, and from her neck 1 hung a long rope of diamonds caught at the end by a small black fan; there was a wreath of diamonds like shining *ater drops linked together in nor , hair. Shu was the grandest lady at Osdene, and renowned In more than | one sense of the word. As Dan saw her smile at him and rise, he thought: j "She is none too sorry that 1 made j that record, but 1 hope to heaven she won't say anything to me about It." And the duchess did not speak of It. Telling him that he was to take her In to dinner, she laid first bor fan on his arm and then her hand. And Dan, one of those fortunate creatures who are born men of the world when they get into it. gave her his arm with much grace, and as he leaned down toward her he thought to himself: Well. It's lucky for me I have my betid on tight; a few more of those | goo goo eyes of hers and It would be as welj for me to light out for the woods." Dan liked belt nt Osdsnc Park hl^ Chin-chins With Gordon Galorey The young man was unflatteringly frank In his eholee of companions When the duehess looked about for him to ride With her. walk with her, to And the ?ecluded corners, to talk, to play with htm, she waa likely to discover Dan had gone off with Lord Galorev and to come upon thetn later, sitting en? veloped In smoke, a stand of drinks by tln lr nlde. To Oalorey, who hnd no heir of child, the boy's presence proved the happiest thing that had COtne to him for a long time. He talked :i great deal to Dan about the olfi man G;t lorey was poor, and the fact of n for tune of ten million pounds possessed by "his one boy wan continually before his mind like an obaesslon. It v. as like looking down Into a cold mine Ga? lorev tried often to broach the sub ject of money, but Dan kepi off. A length Oalorey asked boldly: In- gai satisfied \\ltb bis band. Judg "What are you going to do with it?" Dn this occasion they were walking >ver from the lower park back to the aouse, a couple of terriers at their lcels. "Do with what?" Rlair asked iuno :ently. He was looking at the trees. He was comparing their grayish green trunks and their foliage with the Cali? fornia redwoods. A little taken aback, Lord Galorey laughed. "Why, that colossal fortune of yours." And Blair answered unhesitatingly: 'Oh, spend it on some girl sooner or later." Galorey fairly staggered. Then he took it humorously. "My dear chap, I never saw a sweet? er, bigger man than your father. If he had been my father, I dare say I might have pulled off a different yard of hemp, but I must confess that I think he has left you too much money." "Well, there are a lot of fellows who are ready to look after it for me," Blair answered coolly. Before his companion could redden, he contin? ued: "You see, dad took care of me for twenty-one years all right, and whenever I am up a stump, why all 1 have to do Is to remember the things he did." For the first time since his arrival at Osdene Dan's tone was serious. In? terested as he was in the older man, Dan's inclination was to evade the discussion of serious subjects. With Blair's slang, his conversation was al? most Incomprehensible. "Dad didn't gas much," the boy said, "but I could draw a map of some of the things he did say. He used to say he made his money out of the earth." The two were walking side by side across the rich velvet of the Immemo? rial English turf. The extreme soft? ness of the autumn day, its shifting lights, its mellow envelope, the beauty of the park?the age, the stability, the harmony, served to touch the young fellow's spirits. At any rate there was a ring in him, an equilibrium that surprised Galorey. " 'Most things,' dad said to me, 'go back to the earth.' " He struck the English turf with his stick. "Dad said a fellow had better buy those things that stay above the ground." Dan smiled frankly at his companion. "Cu? rious thing to say, wasn't it?" he re? flected "I remef.ibercd It, and I got to wondering after I saw him buried, 'what are the things that stay above the ground?' The old man never gave me another talk like that." After a few seconds Oalorey put In: "But, my dear chap, you did give me a shock up there Just now when you said you were going to spend 'all your money on some girt? " The millionaire took a chestnut from his pocket. He held It high above his head and the little dog that had been yelping at his heels fixed his eyes on lt. Blair poised it, then threw it aa far as he could. It sped through the air and the terrier ran like mad across the park. "I like girls awfully, Gordon, and when I find the right one, why, then I'm going to feel what a bully thing it is to be rich." Lord Galorey groaned aloud. "My dear chap!" he exclaimed. The spell of the day, the fragrant beauty of the time and place and hour were clearly upon Dan Blair. Ix>rd Galorey was sympathetic to him. The terrier came tearing back with the chestnut held between his thick Jaws. Dan bent down to take the nut from the dog and wrestled with him ?gently. "Swell little grip he's got. Nice old pup! Let it go now!" And he threw the nut far again, and as the terrier ran once more Blair thrust his hands down in his pockets and began softly to whistle the tune of Mandalay. He said slowly, going back to his subject: "It must be gTeat to feel that a fellow can give her Jewels like the Duchess of Breakwater's, ropes of 'em"?he nodded toward the house? "and a fine old place like this now, and motors and yachts and all kinds of stuff." His eyes rested on the suave lines of the Elizabethan house, with its softened gables and its banked ter The Duchess of Breakwater Appeared. races, Poasibly his vivid Imagination pictured "aome nice kIiT' then* wait as they should come up, to meet him, "I have always thought It would be bully to And a pooi girl pretty as a peach, of Course one who had noser had much, and Just cover her with things, Hey. then !" he cried to the terrier, who had come running back, "bring it to me." They had come up to the terrace by this, and i)anv- confidence, freab as a guab of water from ? rock, had ceased. His face was i !a< id He didn't realize what he had From out of one of the loug win dows, dressed in a sable coat, het ing from his readiness to be "called' ?mall head tied up in a motor scarf, the Duchess of Breakwater appeared. She greeted them severely, and Lord Galorey heard her say under her breath to Dan: "You promised to be back to drive with me before dinner, Dan. Did you forget?" And as Gaiorey left the boy to make his peace, the first smile of amuse? ment broke over his face. He felt that the duch< u had between her and her capture c, Dan Blair's heart the elu? sive picture of some "nice girl "- not much perhaps, but it might be very hard to tear away the picture of the ideal that was ever before the blue eyes of this man who had a fortune to spend on her! CHAPTER ||. The Duchess Approve His attentions to the Duchess of ?reakwaces. had not been so conspicu? ous or so absorbing as to prevent the eager mothers?who, true to her word, Lady Galorey had invited down?from laying siege to Dan Blair. Lady Ga? lorey asked him: "Don't you want to marry any one of these beauties, Dan?" And Blair, with his beautiful smile aLd what Lily called his Inspired candor, answered: "Not on your life, Lady Galorey!" And she agreed: "I think myself you are too young." "No," Dan refuted, "you are wrong there. I shall marry as fast as I can." His hostess was surprised. "Why, I thought you wanted your fling first." And Dan, from his chair, In which, with a book, he had been sitting when Lady Galorey found him, answered cheerfully: "Oh, I don't like being alone. I want to go about with some one. I should like a fling all right, but I want to fling with somebody as I go." The lady of the house was not a philosopher nor an analyst. She had certain affairs of her own and was en? grossed In them and lived In them. As far as Lady Galorey was concerned the rest of the world might go and hang itself as long as it didn't do it at her gate-post. But Blair couldn't leave any one indifferent to bim very long, not unless one could be indiffer? ent to a blaze of sunlight; one must either draw th?> olinds down or bask in its brightness. She laughed. "You're perfectly deli? cious! You mean to say you want to be married at once and let your wife fling around with you?" "Just that." "How sweet of you, Dan! And you won't marry one of these girls here?"' "Don't fill the bill, Lady Oalorey." "Oh, you have a sweetheart at home, then?" "All off!" he assured her blithely, and roee, tall and straight and slender. The Duchess of Breakwater had come, in. Indeed she never failed tp when there was any question of find? ing Blair. Dan stood atraightly before the two women of an old race, and the Amer? ican didn't suggest any line of noble ancestors whatsoever. His features were rather conglomerate; his mus? cles were possibly not the perfect elas? tic specimens that were those muscles whose strain and sinew had been made from the same stock for genera? tions. He was, nevertheless, very good to look on. Any woman would have thought so, and be bent his blond head as he looked at the Duchess of Breakwater with something like be? nevolence, something of his father's kindness In his clear blue eyes. Neither of the noble ladies vaguely un? derstood him. His hostess thought him "a good sort," not half bad, a splendid catch, and the other woman, only a few years his senior, was In love with him. The duchess had mar* ried at eighteen, tired of her bargain at twenty, and found herself a widow at twenty-flre. She held a telegram in her hand. "We're got the box for Mandalay to? night at the Gaiety, and let'B motor In." Only Lady Galorey hesitated, disap? pointed. "Too bad?I had specially arranged for Lady Grandcourt to drive over with Eileen. I thought it would be a ripping chance for her to see Dan." When at length the duchess had suc? ceeded In getting Dan to herself to? ward the end of the day in the red room, after tea, she said: "So you won't marry a London beauty?" And rather coldly Dan had an? swered: "Why, you talk, all of you, as if I had only to aak any girl of them, and she would Jump down my throat." *TJonJt try It," the duchess answered, "unless you wnnt to have your mouth full!" Dan dtd not reply for a second, but he looked at her more seriously, con? scious of her grace and her good looks. Pho was certainly better to look at than the simple girls with their big hands, small wits, long faces and. as the boy expressed it. "utter lack of get up." The duchess shone out to advantage "Why dont you talk to me?" she aHked Foftly. "You know you would rather talk to me than the others." "Yes." ho said frankly: "they make me nervous." "And I don't?" "No." he said. "I learn a lot every time we are together." "Leant?" *ho fi rented, nol particu? larly tlattercd by toll "What sort of things?" "Oh, about the whole business," ho returned vaguely. "You know what I mean." "Then." she said with a slight laugh, "you mean to say you talk to me for educational purnoaes? What a beast? ly boro!" Dan did not contradict her. She i y the people.?Wilmington star. was by no moans Fve to blm, nor was he the raw recruit his simplicity might give one to think. He had had bis temptations and his way out of them was an easy one; for he was very slow to stir, and back of all was Ms ideal. The reality and power of this ideal Dan knew best at moments Uta these. Hut the Duchess of Breakwater war, the most lovely woman- tke most dangerous woman that had come his way. He liked her?Dan was well on the way to love. The two were alone in the big dark room. At their side the small table, from which they had taken their tea together, stood with Its empty cups and its silver. Without, the day was cold and windy, and the sunset threw along the panes a red reflection. The light fell cn the Duchess of Ureakwv ter, something like a veil?a crimen veil slipped over her face and breast. She leaned toward Dan, and between them there was no more barrier than the western light. He felt his pulses beat and a tide rising w ithin him. She was a delicious emanation, fragrant and near, and as he might have gath? ered a cluster of flowers, so In the next second he would have taken her in his arms, but from the other room Just then Lady Galorey. at the piano, played a snatch from Mandalay, strik? ing at once into the tune. The sound came suddenly, told them quickly some one was near, and the Duchess of Breakwater involuntarily moved back, and so knockec the small tray, jostled it, and It fell t lettering to As floor. CHAPTER III. The Blalrtown Soloist Blalrtown had a population of some eight thousand. There was a Presby? terian church to which Dan and hit father went regularly, sitting in the bare pew when the winter's storms beat and rattled on the panes, or In the summer sunshine, when the smell of the pews and the panama fans and the hymn books came strong to them through the heat. One day there was a missionary ser? mon, and for the first time In its his? tory, a girl sang a solo in the First Presbyterian church. Dan Blair heard He Liked Her?Dan Was Well on th? Way to Love. it, looked up, and It made a mark in his life. A girl In a white dresi trimmed with blue gentians, white cot? ton gloves, and golden hair, was the soloist. He knew her, that is, be had a nodcing acquaintance with her. Jt was the girl at the drug store who sold soda water, and he had asked her some hundreds of times for a "vanilla or a chocolate," but it wasn't this vul? gar memory that made the little boy listen. It was the girl's voice. Stand? ing back of the yellow-painted rail, above the minister's pulpit, above the files, the red pews and the panama fans, she sang, and she sang Into Dan Blalr's soul. To speak more truly, she made him a soul in that moment. She awakened the boy; his collar felt tight. cheeks grew hot. He felt his new boots, too. hard and heavy. She made him want to cry. These were ihe physical sensations?the ma? terial p..rt of the awakening. The rest went ol deeply Inside of Dan. She broke his heart; then she healed it. She made him want to cry like a girl; then she wiped his tears. The little boy settled back and grew more comfortable and listened, and what she sang was. "From Greenland's icy mountains, FYom India's coral stra?ands.*' Before the hymn reached its end he was a calm boy again, and the hymn took up Its pictures and became like an illustrated book of travels, and be> wanted to see those pea-green pea', of Greenland, to float upon the Ice? bergs to them, and see the dawn break on the polar seas as the ex? plorers do. . . . He should find the north pole some day! Then he wanted to go to an African jungle, where the tiger, "tiger shining bright," should dash his ?tripes before hit eyes! Daujjj would gather wreaths of coral fronra the stra?amis and give them to the girl with the yellow hair. When he and his father camo out together from the church. Dan chose the street that passed the soda fountain drug store and peeped in It was dark and cool. \ and behind the counter the drag clerk mixed the summer drinks: ind the drug clerk mixed them from that time ever afterward -for the girl with the yellow hair never showed up in Blair town sgaln. She went away! i TO BK CONTINUED) T fact that a m ) like Dr. Wiley had lo throw d< wn bi^ work because his eff< rts in behalf of pure food wore In \ain. shows that there ought to he a cleaning oul of the entire admiate tratton at Washington, if the right man cannot hold his .i?>i> those who get rid of him ought not be trusted with his work.-?Wilmington star.